Forest Resources Department Seminar with Dr. Chris Edgar

April 10, 2023, 3:30 - 4:30 PM

Green Hall, Room 203
2005 Upper Buford Circle, 
Saint Paul, MN 55108
And on Zoom 

Featuring Dr. Chris Edgar, Department of Forest Resources research assistant professor and director of graduate studies, Natural Resources Science and Management (NRSM), who will present a talk titled "Recent developments into the estimation of the timing and extent of forest disturbance using national forest inventory data and application to the Laurentian Mixed Forest." 

Abstract
Unprecedented forest health threats are occurring across the northern United States and forest managers are increasingly looking at silvicultural practices that promote forest health and resilience. Broad-scale monitoring of the extent and timing of forest disturbance is information forest managers can use to inform management planning.

Primary sources of broad-scale information on forest disturbance include remote sensing and national forest inventory data. The spatial and temporal richness of remote sensing data supports detailed examination of the timing and extent of forest disturbance while attribution of disturbance to specific causal agents is a developing area.

Another source of broad-scale monitoring information on forest disturbance is Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA), the US Forest Service Program that implements the national forest inventory. An important feature of FIA is the direct observation of tree and forest conditions in the field at sampled locations. Tree mortality is tracked through repeated observations of the sampled locations. At each visit, the occurrence, year of occurrence, and causal agent of up to three recent disturbances are noted. The retrospective nature of the observation of disturbance and the design of the inventory creates challenges related to appropriate estimation of the timing and extent of disturbance.

In this talk, Dr. Edgar will report on several recent methodological developments into the estimation with FIA data of the timing and extent of forest disturbance. The application of these new methods will then be demonstrated with an analysis and reporting of disturbance in the Laurentian Mixed Forest from 1999 to 2015.